Grudge Match
by Mercenary Pen
Summary: Set soon after the Royal Cup in NC0, this story tends towards nihilism and sinister plotlines, but I hope some of you will enjoy it. Rated T due to violence and some language later on.
1. Chapter 1

Zoids: Grudge Match.

Okay, I've been plagued with writers block and allsorts of other stuff for the last few months, plus I've been on a zoids RPG site the name of which will be found in my profile.The old stories really lost what little spark they had, and so I've now started anew with this. I must apologise to any purists who read this, because there will be a variety of my self-designed custom zoids, but, anyway, here goes:

Chapter One: Aftermath 

Harry Champ was at home, still recovering from the concussion he'd received during the final events of the royal cup two weeks before, mostly because he refused to let Benjamin and Sebastian, his mechanoid servants, either phone for a doctor or use what medical knowledge they already had on him. Instead, he spent every waking moment fixated on his rivalry, his bitter enmity, with Bit Cloud, now the newest elite pilot to enter class S of the Zoid Battle Commission's zoid leagues.

At this stage, Harry would do almost anything to defeat Bit, to prove himself superior to that cocky, stuck up, lucky jerk of a Liger Pilot… almost anything.

Meanwhile, at the Toros base, the Blitz team were relaxing, Bit happy now that his debts for the Schneider, Panzer and Jager armours were paid; Brad chilling out after a session fine tuning the Shadow Fox so that the two were better synchronised, and Leena expecting a missile shipment at any moment. Jamie, however, was in the hangar, still working on his most urgent project, fitting the wings back onto his Raynos where they had been removed by the Buster Claws of the Berserk Fuhrer two weeks before. He'd already removed most of the dents from the rest of the Raynos, but the refitting of the wings would be far trickier than routine maintenance…

Meanwhile, huddled in a concealed military bunker in the middle of the desert, the remaining leadership of the Backdraft group met- their voices lowered- trying to formulate a new plan for success…

Of the original committee of seven, only three remained, the rest having been arrested or killed in recent raids on both Backdraft facilities and their own properties. But, ever pragmatic, the remaining committee members had appointed replacements for their fallen and captured comrades, and they- along with the most experienced pilots remaining to the Backdraft, discussed their options.

Indeed, the only men not present who might sway the progress of this discussion were Doctor Layon, who currently lay, verging on the comatose, in a hospital bed- and Vega Obscura, who now sat in his room, despondent over the turn for the worse that the Berserk Fuhrer had taken three days before.

"Yes, yes," said, Marcus Halburg, one of the new committee members, "of course I agree with our aim to harness the power of an Ultimate X, but can we truly harness the power of the Berserk Fuhrer? The zoid is a loose cannon!"

"I see what you mean," replied the count, whose charmed existence had allowed him to remain safe during the past fortnight, "But what other choices do we have?"

This time, Jared Falke, head of development operations replied, "What we could do is to try and disassemble the integrated organoid system of the Berserk Fuhrer, with a view to reverse engineering it, creating our own copies to install into those zoids we considered worthy of receiving the system…"

"An interesting possibility," mused commander Alteil, finally elevated to committee member status during the past two weeks to replace a dead member, "I move that we lay all possibilities on the table, then adjourn to consider them before reaching a decision… Hasty decisions at this point would be… unwise."

A quick show of hands demonstrated that everyone present agreed with his suggestion, and thus even the most farfetched possibilities were submitted for consideration before the meeting broke up…

Naomi and Leon were arguing, all pretence of repairing their zoids forgotten as they discussed the future of the Flugel team.

"I like the idea as much as you do," Leon insisted, "but with all the new zoid designs coming out, and the new pilots coming up to class A, our only chance of survival is going to be recruiting a third full-time member… preferably someone who could handle an area of combat where our zoids fall short."

Naomi replied bitterly, "freelance pilots are gonna be very hard to find right about now, everyone's forming teams to register for next year's championships… and there are dozens of teams recruiting replacement members after the carnage of the Royal Cup… Whether we want a third member or not, we're gonna have a hard time finding one. Especially if we want someone competent."

"Yes, but Naomi," Leon replied, sapped of strength and confidence by the events of the past fortnight, "we lost a battle against a single Stormsworder…"

"But how are we going to manage the upkeep of a third zoid, in addition to ours?" Naomi snapped back, "I'm having enough trouble meeting the repayments for my Gunsniper without having to pay wages for a third pilot, and those spare parts for your Blade Liger aren't cheap…"

"We'll manage something," Leon insisted half-heartedly, already giving up the argument because, no matter how badly they needed a third zoid on the team, he couldn't argue with the state of their finances.

Jack Sisco was busy trying to repair the damage done to his Lightning Saix. This wasn't the damage done during the Royal cup by the Blitz team, but rather the damage received during a more recent battle, where the Lightning team had lost against a single Stormsworder, finding themselves unable to shake the flying zoid, and unable to target it as it cleaved their zoids in two from behind. So now they were frantically trying to repair their zoids, all the while hoping that their finances wouldn't run out before they were finished.

Only Chris Tasker wasn't repairing her zoid, and that was because it had managed to Freeze ten seconds into the battle, without taking a single hit. Instead, she was looking through a magazine, reading an article from the recent zoid-manufacturers roadshow in Romeo city.

"Nope," she muttered to herself, "no new upgrades for the Lightning Saix. Hey, hang on a minute…" She raised her voice, calling to the others, "come and take a look at this guys!"

Within a couple of moments, they were clustered around the magazine she clutched, looking at photographs and technical readouts for two new zoids, the Dire Saix, and the Imperator Saix. These zoids were specialist upgrades of the Lightning Saix, and each bristled with more weapons and armour than could be safely fitted to their forerunner, all the while having greater speed and greater manoeuvrability.

"Those," Jack Sisco said, breaking the uneasy silence, "could be our next step."

Like the others, he was drinking in the thought of lightweight alloy armour, upgraded boosters featuring the new Screaming Harpy Ramjet system, and a vast variety of weapons that would make these zoids high-speed fortresses, able to annihilate almost anything that could hope to keep pace with them.

"When we have the money to spare then," Kelly Tasker spoke for all of them, "we shall upgrade our zoids."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two: And so it begins

It had now been two months since the Royal Cup, and it was now time for the new season of Zoid Battle Commission sanctioned battles to begin. Following the debacle that had been the Royal Cup, however, there were a vast number of teams who had moved up the ranks, from class B to class A, from class C to class B, and so on, merely to replace the half dozen teams in class A that had been obliterated by the rampage of the Berserk Fuhrer, or Team Vega- as it had been known- during the Royal Cup. This meant that the past two months had been filled with un-broadcasted battles that had been judged carefully to try and sort out the rankings of both old and new teams in preparation for the beginning of the new season's league.

However, it was to be the first battle of the season for Class S that would be the most interesting, for the newcomers to the division, the Blitz Team, would be thrown in at the deep end against the second place team of Class S during the previous season, the team mad enough to call themselves the Psychotic Spoons team.

The Psychotic spoons team were an anomaly amongst the teams of Class S, because they alone managed to reach the class whilst doing things that seemed utterly insane, both inside and outside of their cockpits. Their members, Todd, Algernon, Byron and Myriam were renowned for pulling some of the least conventional strategies out of their hats- and then execute these unexpected strategies with an uncanny degree of panache, causing lesser pilots to imitate them, often getting badly defeated in the process. They would be taking on the Blitz team with a total of four zoids, forcing the Blitz team to pit against them every zoid they had (apart from their transport zoid of course), and because of the way they spent their winnings, they had at least fifteen different top-of-the-range zoids to choose from.

The battlefield chosen for this bout was an expanse of sub-arctic tundra, barely outside of Zi's arctic circle, covered with snow and so cold that, even with internal heaters functioning at full power, most zoids would have little chance of overheating.

Because of this, Bit had taken the decision to mobilise the Zero Panzer immediately, finding firm ground only a few inches below the layer of snow that covered everything. The tendency of the Panzer modification to overheat meant that he sat in his cockpit, pleasantly warm as he waited for the start of the battle.

Beside him, Leena shivered in the cockpit of her Gunsniper, the heating cranked up to full, wrapped in a thermal parka, desperately trying not to freeze… Even Brad, in his Shadowfox, was desperately trying to keep warm as his teeth chattered over the comm system.

Jamie, however, was currently at an altitude of one hundred feet above the battlefield, his Raynos barely repaired in time, sweating slightly in his thermal jacket with the heaters in his zoid turned up halfway, waiting for battle to begin. This was going to be the only way he could reconcile himself with the darker side of his personality, that part of him that took over in battle, insisting on calling itself the Wild Eagle. The only way he could see of improving himself would be to try and combine the sides of himself that were in conflict, becoming the sum of his normal personality and his wild eagle alter ego, for the whole- he had always been taught- was greater than the sum of its parts.

The Psychotic Spoons team had now arrived upon the battlefield, their Whale King setting down opposite the Hovercargo of the Blitz team at a distance of about ten miles. The ramp that was the mouth of the Whale King descended, revealing the four zoids that would face the Blitz Team in combat.

The first, a Salamander, was quickly launched by Todd, taking to the skies and positioning itself opposite Jamie's Raynos, bristling with armaments that were designed either for anti-air encounters or better used for bombing runs against land bound targets. The second was a Gunblaster deployed by Byron, which took up position opposite the Zero Panzer, its multiple cannons glinting in the icy sunshine as it found a firm footing in the snow, ready to rain death on the Blitz team. The third took the form of a Stealth Dragon, an evolved form of the Stealth Viper which had been deployed by Algernon , heavily armoured with incredible speed and flexibility and the fourth- coming out right behind the stealth dragon, was a silver blade liger AE under the command of Myriam, the specialist upgrade making it into almost a new zoid by comparison with Leon's conventional red blade liger. Indeed, this zoid boasted the expensive attack booster units that- despite being rare and optional parts for the standard blade liger- had been fitted as standard on the AE- or anniversary edition- design, these plus other improvements more than making up for the loss of the beam guns that made up the armaments conversion system of a conventional blade liger, the boosters already flipped to face forward- deploying the devastating Pulse Beam cannons that were concealed in their shells.

Indeed, all of the zoids set against the Blitz team were resplendent in the trademark silver paintwork of the psychotic spoons team, which was said to be in homage to the silver spoons that first inspired them to become zoid pilots. An added bonus of this was that it made it very difficult for an opponent to look directly at their zoids in bright sunlight, forcing the opposition to rely on sophisticated sensors when trying to target their zoids if they wanted even the remotest chance of their eyes surviving.

Finally, the judge capsule arrived, its impact sending a concussion wave through the ground that would have caused avalanches if there were any hills or mountains in the vicinity.

Beyond the battlefield, television crews had already set up, using their own refitted black Salamanders, equipped with more television cameras than most people could shake a stick at to survey the battlefield, televising this promising battle for the audiences back home, from just beyond the radius of the battlefield…

The judge capsule had set up, and by now was halfway through its official spiel, explaining which teams would be fighting, which battle mode they would fight under (this being 0746- Which specified arctic terrain in a four-on-four battle) and what moves were forbidden (these including attacks upon either the cockpit or the transport as per usual, but also including attacks upon the television crews…). Finally, it came to the end of its spiel and called out across the battlefield, "Ready, Fight!"

Suddenly, the Psychotic spoons team began their onslaught, Byron's Gunblaster opening fire upon both the Zero Panzer and the Gunsniper with a focussed Megalomax attack aimed directly between the two, which barely hit either of them, but instead broke up the ground upon which they were standing, forcing each to try and find better footing before unloading their own payloads of artillery at their opponents. Meanwhile, Algernon's Stealth Dragon surged towards the Shadowfox, its Machine guns opening fire with a concentrated barrage, as the laser Vulcan-fire of the Shadowfox bounced almost harmlessly off the thick armour of the Stealth Dragon…

Meanwhile, Todd and the Salamander were using their anti-air cannons to create a defensive screen against the circling Raynos, which was now thoroughly on the defensive against the slower bulkier zoid. In short, Jamie was not managing to reconcile the two sides of his personality at all well, and was in fact suffering as his Raynos took more and more damage from the Salamander's wing-mounted cannons.

**Do you want me to take over here?** Echoed a confident voice through Jamie's mind suddenly. This voice, it appeared, was the Wild Eagle, the side of Jamie's personality that came out only in combat, and only in the skies. He thought about it briefly and then thought back, **No, we'll both do this together…**

Suddenly, Jamie found his hands tensing upon the control yokes of the Raynos, and suddenly, ramming the yokes forward and kicking things up to maximum speed, Jamie dived towards the Salamander, barely noticing as he jammed his finger onto the trigger to unleash a veritable hail of gunfire upon the slower airborne fortress that was his target, twisting away at the last second to regain height and come around for another run rather than ramming directly into the heavily armoured Salamander.

"Huh," Todd replied from the cockpit of the Salamander, "so you are going to give me a challenge after all. Good, I was expecting something a little more 'interesting' than a whitewash from you."

"Now who's getting cocky," the words came from Jamie's mouth before he could stop them, "I'd suggest learning to fly before learning to talk next time."

With that, Jamie came in for another pass, his control yokes responding to hairline position changes to bring him in past the firing tail guns of the Salamander to deliver another on target barrage to the main body of the Salamander, only the expert control of the wild eagle giving Jamie the capacity to keep his attack from hitting the huge missiles that the Salamander carried, an unsafe and illegal strategy that could kill the Salamander's pilot and cost the Blitz team the match.

However, below him, things were proceeding quite differently. Brad's Shadowfox was now wrapped up in the coils of Algernon's Stealth Dragon, unable to bring its strike laser claws to bear upon the serpentine zoid, and unable to do more than dent the armour of it with his Vulcan cannon or even the teeth of the Shadow Fox. The stealth dragon just continued to crush his zoid, constricting around his legs beyond their ability to resist, let alone counterattack.

Leena was fighting for her life as Myriam and the Blade Liger had selected her for a target, merely sniping at her at range whilst she expended what little artillery remained to her, apart from one final barrage, against its superpowered energy shields.

Bit, on the other hand, was having trouble finding footing firm enough to support the Zero Panzer for long enough to allow him to get off a shot, as the Gunblaster kept firing at the feet of the zoid, Byron's precision shooting crumbling the very rock they were standing on and pockmarking the blanket of thin snow with bullet holes, each shot placed precisely to cause maximum disruption to his opponent. All the while, the zero panzer was heating up, and it would be a miracle if Bit survived this battle without getting boiled like vegetables.

Suddenly, the Zero Panzer let out a roar, echoing across the battlefield and stood straight, its feet sinking into the snow and finding purchase as it opened every missile pod upon its body. Targeting screens extended out of every recess in the cockpit, picking out opposing zoids and assigning a number of missiles to each. Before Bit could react, the missiles were away, some targeting the Gunblaster, some going for other zoids such as the Blade Liger, the Stealth Dragon and even the Salamander. However, one, incorrectly targeted, spiralled towards Leena, slamming into the right hip of her Gunsniper. This was exactly the diversion that Brad and Jamie needed though, for suddenly the Shadowfox sprang free from the serpent's clutches, whilst the Raynos managed to drill a barrage of seven shots through a hole in the armour of the Salamander's tail, doing some significant damage against the heavily armoured zoid.

The Gunblaster and the Blade Liger, however, emerged relatively unscathed- having both deployed energy shields against the oncoming rain of missiles (the shielding of the Gunblaster being added by means of a specialist upgrade pack).

In a flash, the Shadowfox bounded backwards, then sprang forwards into the air, Strike Laser claws aimed for the mid-body of the Stealth Dragon, only to miss as the zoid twisted away, burrowing beneath the ground now, beyond the reach of anything the Blitz Team could deploy- only to surface beneath the Liger Zero, throwing it through the air despite the vast weight of the Panzer CAS, sending it sprawling against Leena's Gunsniper, crushing the small saurian zoid beneath the weight of the stricken Liger, before the Salamander launched its pair of missiles, severely damaging the Panzer armour but barely scratching the Liger itself or the Gunsniper beneath. However, at this rate, it was looking like a race to see which happened first, the defeat of the Liger Zero, or the overheat of the Panzer unit…

Jamie and the wild eagle between them continued to harry the Salamander, looping in and out with vicious high speed attacks, but the aerial fortress that was the Salamander continued to hold firm against their attacks, Todd now raining death down upon the Shadowfox with its main 80mm guns…

The Shadowfox now faced off against the Blade Liger AE, trying to punch through the shields of the Liger whilst evading Myriam's array of High intensity blade attacks, shield rams and other moves the Liger had to offer, and barely succeeding to evade the opposing attacks, let alone get in an attack of its own…

Brad cursed to himself, the blazing sunshine reflected off the silver paintwork of the Liger, and off the snow itself, was making it almost impossible for him to see. Suddenly, an idea came to him, and he kicked himself for not having thought of it before. Quickly, he activated the Shadowfox's smoke dischargers, surrounding both his zoid and the opposing Liger with smoke. The Blade Liger, even in the anniversary edition or AE model, did not possess anything like the sophisticated sensory equipment of the Fox design, and would be unable to combat him adequately in the smoke. However, the Blade Liger pilot was prepared and immediately brought up full shields, protecting him from anything the Shadowfox could throw at it.

Meanwhile, Bit finally managed to drag the zero Panzer upright, trying desperately to brace his zoid as he fired his hybrid cannons at the Salamander, severely damaging the right-hand wing and sending the ungainly flier plummeting to the ground, getting kicked back by the recoil of the powerful cannons… finally skidding to a stop as the back leg of his zoid clanked against the Hovercargo itself.

A moment later, confirmation came through from the judge capsule, both the Salamander and Leena's crushed Gunsniper were out of the battle…

Decisively, Bit slammed his fist down upon the Liger Zero's armour release button, allowing the Liger Zero to shake free of the scarred Panzer armour and return to the Hovercargo to accept a new CAS, and none too soon, for as bit and the Liger Zero turned and ran for base, the Stealth Dragon hauled itself from the ground again, directly beneath where the Liger had been standing, and without the benefit of the Panzer armour, being thrown by the Stealth Dragon could have been a move that dealt serious damage to him

Meanwhile, in their concealed bunker in the desert, the Backdraft high command met again, taking stock of their situation as they tried to rebuild their organisation

"What is the situation with the Berserk Fuhrer?" asked commander Alteil of the technician who had been brought forward to give a report.

"He's badly scarred, sir," the technician replied, "pieces of his external armour will need to be rebuilt from scratch sir, and there are places where the Liger Zero's claws cut through more than just the armour, meaning we will need to do more than just replace the external armour. With our current resources and facilities, it's going to take several months before we could have it anywhere close to battle-ready. Then there's the fact that most of the technicians are too scared to go anywhere near it, sir. I can shout orders and parcel out punishment duty all I want, but ninety percent of them would rather take the punishments than work on the Fuhrer, and I'm not certain I blame them sir…"

The technician's Adam's-apple bobbed with fear to even speak of the zoid, and his brow dripped with sweat as he addressed the committee, his hands were shaking and his expression suggested he was struggling to keep his bowels under control and his uniform clean before the committee.

"And why exactly wouldn't you blame your colleagues for refusing to repair the Fuhrer," inquired the count, his measured tones putting fear in him more than Alteil's bluster ever could.

The technician gulped, "well, working around the Fuhrer seems, over time, to affect the sanity of those involved… I can't remember the last time I got a decent night's sleep. These days I just feel restless, and when I do sleep I get dreams that scare the life out of me. It's much the same with any of the other technicians, sir. Just last week second technician Reynolds turned up for work wearing a tutu and muttering about thinking he could fly, sir…" His voice trailed off as withering looks from newer members of the committee tried to dismiss his statements as the ramblings of a superstitious man, but the more experienced men were, by the looks of things, taking everything he said very, very seriously.

"And how is the attempt to replicate the Berserk Fuhrer's Integrated Organoid system progressing?" interjected one of the newer committee members, anxious to change the subject away from mechanic superstitions.

"It isn't sir," the technician replied, being brutally honest with his superiors, "We've managed to analyse the casing of the unit, and some of the most basic circuitry, but the casing itself interferes with our sensory readings, and we can't take it away without killing the zoid itself, because the circuits we were able to identify were linkages into the zoid core itself. Unless you want to give the order to terminate the Berserk Fuhrer, which would at this stage be more than welcome, we won't be able to make any kind of progress whatsoever."

At this point the count interjected, "I know we were going to discuss this later gentlemen, but it seems appropriate now, so I'll raise the matter. What is the current status of Vega Obscura?"

In response to his pointed question, Major Polta- now in charge of training all Backdraft pilots- stepped forward to deliver his report, "Pilot Obscura is now certified as safe from any possibility of medical repercussions, however, he finds himself unable to pilot zoids competently in the simulator, let alone in the real world. It appears that the Berserk Fuhrer has some linkage into his mind, a possession- if you will- over him. Obscura is constantly being drawn towards the maintenance section where the Berserk Fury is being held, and has- when forced into a simulator- proved to be a pilot of indifferent skill except when the Berserk Fuhrer has been the simulated zoid. I would respectfully suggest that, if we did repair the Berserk Fuhrer to full capacity, Obscura would prove a liability during the months of repairs required, months which may prove critical to the survival of the organisation."

"Your observations are noted Major," the count replied, cutting off the tirade that would develop otherwise, "and I agree with your summation of our status and requirements. Therefore, it is with regret that I move that this committee orders the termination of the Berserk Fuhrer, and of the pilot who has become inextricably linked to the zoid."

The motion passed, with only Alteil- whose warrior's honour would not let him casually order executions- voting against the motion. It was okay, he considered, to order out troops to take down a target with the means to defend itself, particularly if said target was proving to be a loose cannon that the Backdraft could ill afford, but casually ordering the execution of someone who had become dead weight was beyond him- but the order was given nonetheless, and the meeting adjourned for now.

Vega tossed and turned in his sleep, unable to truly rest as his night was plagued by strange visions, visions that seemed to come from an entirely different way of seeing things- like through the eyes of a zoid, a predatory zoid at that… He witnessed the use of Circular saws to salvage parts of zoids around him, of Oxy-Acetylene cutters to separate fused-together pieces of metal, and technicians scurrying like ants- trying to do ever so much without ever coming into eye contact with him.

Suddenly, a group of men entered the room that enclosed his mind, one of their number having a quiet word with some of the people already there. Abruptly, work stopped, the circular saws and oxy-acetylene cutters went quiet, and the people who had been avoiding him began, purposefully, to walk towards him- carrying the circular saws and oxy-acetylene cutters with dreadful purpose, malice in the eyes of some among them, pity in the eyes of a few, and in the eyes of the majority- relief…

Within the dream, he lashed out, thrashing his tail against walls, against people, treading on people to try and assure his survival. He would have unleashed a rain of charged particles, or ripped them apart with spinning claws, but he couldn't- those extremities were- elsewhere…

Vega darted awake, suddenly realising that the Berserk Fuhrer was being dismantled, that he had to try and do something about this- only to find four armed guards standing in the doorway, their weapons pointed at him as he rose.

"You're to follow us," the corporal in charge stated, motioning with his carbine for Vega to follow them.

Vega, however, narrowed his eyes, tensed himself and sprang at them, screaming with inhuman rage. The surprise attack bore one of the soldiers to the ground, Vega taking his gun and turning it on the others in a matter of seconds. The corridor echoed with gunshots for a moment, and then Vega was on his feet, the guards who had come for him- all dead…

He sprinted towards the maintenance facility, more percussive echoes sounding as his gun spat death at soldiers, at fellow pilots, at off-shift maintenance workers, even at a filing clerk who had been recruited the day before and was here on orientation for a week before being sent to another outpost. The route he had taken was littered with bodies, all dead, and around him an alarm sounded- and he turned the corner.

In front of him, a rank of armed soldiers guarded the entrance to the maintenance facility, their weapons pointed at him. They hesitated, and he tried to shoot one, only to find his carbine was empty.

"Shoot him, damn you," ordered Major Polta, who was leading these men personally. They released a volley of fire from their own carbines, just as Vega ran- not at them, but away- for he would have to keep the part of the Berserk Fuhrer that was in him, to keep the memory of the most ferocious zoid of its time alive.

"After him," Polta hissed, drawing his own pistol and giving chase.

Vega ducked around another corner, kicking in an air vent on one side of the corridor, and then one on the other side of the corridor, before running straight on until he came to the bunker's auxiliary operations hangar.

Once inside, he punched out one guard, then sprang behind the wheel of an unattended jeep, running over another three guards before escaping. He hunched over behind the wheel as he rammed the jeep through a new part-constructed defensive wall outside, where the concrete hadn't yet set, and drove off into the desert.

No pursuit followed- the jeep had very little fuel left, and once that was gone, it was at least a week's walk to reach civilisation, through the seeming furnace that was the local desert, with little or no chance of finding an oasis on route. In trying to escape them, they thought, Vega had consigned himself to a messier, more painful execution than any they could provide- and the vultures would clear up whatever remained of his body.

Author's note: Sorry to leave you all with not one but two cliffhangers, but I want some stuff to resolve in chapter 3.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: If only we could forget 

Leon sat at the controls of the Gustav belonging to the Flugel team. They were currently on route to the site of their first battle of the season, a match that would see them pitted tomorrow against the Darklords team, a group of newcomers to Class A whose trio of zoids, a Dark Horn, an Iron Kong PK and an Ice Blazer were renowned for their jet black paintwork, their ferocity, and the occasional unique weapons parts fitted to them for combat testing- but at the same time, the pilots were renowned for their massive egos, or rather their massive collective ego as a team.

They had, Leon mused, supposedly been gutter toughs only three years ago, struggling to scrape together enough money for a half-pint in some New Helic City pub every night- let alone anything like occasional changes of clothing, food, or a roof over their heads. Then, thanks to a mystery benefactor, they suddenly get cleaned up, taken in off the streets, fitted out with zoids and registered as a ZBC team, becoming fierce warriors in battle as they brought their street instincts onto the field with them. They were, it seemed to Leon, a classic example for the posters of what a good zoid team should be, having braved the depths of despair and surmounted them, their normal tendency towards ego was channelled, not into themselves, but instead into their team as a whole, and this led to a cohesive unit who had very few internal rivalries to drive them apart- compared with many other zoid battle teams, who quarrelled amongst themselves over the most trivial of things- or so it seemed.

Naomi was perched on one of the trailers behind the Gustav, tools in hand as she crouched over the right foot of her Gunsniper. She had managed to repair the badly damaged zoid from its disastrous encounter with a stormsworder more than six weeks ago. In fact, most of the zoid was in perfect shape, however, she was having a clumsier day than usual today, and had managed to trip her zoid on the trailer of the Gustav whilst loading it for the day's zoid battle. She was almost done checking over the systems, and now needed only to make minor repairs to the footlock of that foot, whose circuitry had worked loose during the Gunsniper's little accident, and now wouldn't operate properly.

Vega gasped as he struggled through the desert. The jeep had run out of fuel six minutes ago, and ground to a halt only seventeen miles from the base, and he had stumbled out oblivious to almost anything apart from his need to continue on, to become the vital last legacy of the Berserk Fuhrer. His vision blurred in and out of focus, fading from nothingness to the sand that surrounded him, and the endless, cloudless blue of the horizon. Already he was swimming- or so it seemed- in his own sweat, and the polished black boots that he wore on his feet reflected the sunlight up into his eyes as he stumbled onwards, barely able under the strain to keep his own feet. He had rummaged through the jeep for any useful supplies to keep him going. He had even filled an empty bottle with water from the jeep's radiator in a hopeless attempt to survive until he reached civilisation. The desert survival pack in the jeep had been as well stocked as the jeep's fuel supplies, providing him with two military ration bars where there should have been ten, an empty bottle where there should have been twenty bottles of water, and half a dozen sticking plasters where there should have been a full first aid kit. But he had taken what was available without complaint, lurching forward towards what he hoped would be civilisation, or at least a road- all the while chewing on his first ration bar- he had missed out on breakfast this morning, and even if he had waited until the last moment before escaping, the Backdraft group never bothered with such niceties as the 'hearty last meal' for a condemned man, instead saving their resources for pilots who weren't about to be killed.

He trudged onwards wearily, wondering whether he stood a chance of making his way back to civilisation, when it happened. His vision faded out, replaced by something more vivid, and far more terrifying than walking through a desert.

He found himself looking once more through the eyes of the Berserk Fuhrer, his mind sensing the arms and legs of the enraged zoid- restrained as best they could be. His mind operated alongside that of the Berserk Fuhrer, desperately trying anything to escape from the inevitable fate of the zoid, trying to break free, to lash out with his tail (also restrained), to break the bonds that held his arms and legs (too tight- it would take at least fifteen minutes), to activate the charged particle cannon that he knew was there (it had been disabled when the zoid had been taken in, the control linkages removed to prevent the zoid damaging itself whilst undergoing repairs). He knew it was futile, but as the equipment needed to dismantle him was brought forward (circular saws, chainsaws, electric screwdrivers, oxy-acetylene cutters, Spinosappers) he kept struggling, unwilling to give in until the last.

Then, suddenly, the work began, cutting away the dangerous extremities of the zoid- Vega's body flinched and twitched, still stumbling forward, as he felt in his mind the amputation of arms, of legs, of the sinuous tail. Involuntarily he screamed, alongside the Fuhrer, sharing in the full measure of the zoid's agony- and yet, at the same time, he truly understood the Berserk Fuhrer, knowing that it did not deliberately share this torment with him, but that it did so purely out of instinct- unable to exert any other form of control now, it fell back upon this, it's last- and greatest- gift.

Vega fell to the ground as the Berserk Fuhrer flailed- or tried to- firing the circuitry that had controlled the movement of its arms and legs randomly, finding no control over any limbs but Vega's. Vega's body spasmed in the sand, contorting itself and randomly shaking limbs about as a minor sandstorm began to whip up about Vega's body. But then, coming to terms with its amputations, the Berserk Fuhrer ceased resisting, merely watching as the delicate equipment was brought forth to extract both the zoid core and the integrated organoid system, without killing the zoid until the process was complete.

This was the first time ever that the Berserk Fuhrer had shown weakness- or at least what it believed to be weakness- but, in that moment, both the Fuhrer and Vega Obscura knew that not even the Berserk Fuhrer could face this alone. Thus, despite the need to be remembered, the Berserk Fuhrer was unable to let go of Vega's consciousness, but instead gripped it tighter- seeking comfort and solace from the one pilot who had come anywhere close to understanding it.

And then it happened, a dozen tiny power-drills piercing into the Ultimate X zoid's integrated organoid system, still more penetrating the core of what had once been hailed as the ultimate zoid. Involuntarily, Vega's body screamed in agony as he felt every sensation alongside his former zoid… Then came a moment of clarity, a moment where Vega knew that he would never pilot the Berserk Fuhrer again and then, just a second too late, his zoid released him, trying to give him his life back. Vega fainted, his body and mind too exhausted by the prolonged mental contact to continue onwards- for now.

Meanwhile, on their chosen battlefield, the Blitz team were struggling against the superior firepower of the Psychotic spoons team. Bit had just reached the modification deck of the hovercargo, and was debating which CAS to replace his Panzer armour with.

He decided upon the Schneider CAS, and with the twist of a wrist, he looked on as the Red-Orange armour was assembled on the skin of his zoid, finding it soon bristling with the many blades of the familiar design. This, he decided, would be an entirely different fight, for the Schneider could achieve many things that the Panzer couldn't, getting in close to the enemy and ripping their zoids to shreds almost before they could react- or so he hoped.

"Doc," he announced, "this is Bit, take me up."

"Will do," Doc Toros replied, pressing the button that would elevate the Liger zero Schneider to the catapult deck of the Hovercargo.

Outside, however, things were looking grim as Brad's Shadowfox and Jamie's Raynos struggled to hold the Gunblaster, Stealth Dragon and Blade Liger AE of their opponents at bay… both pilots finding themselves stretched- by virtue of seemingly ineffectual weapons- to their limits.

"Here comes the cavalry," Jamie remarked to Brad, spotting the zero Schneider as it reached the catapult deck.

"It took its time getting here though," replied Brad, his feelings of bitterness amplified by the struggle he was going through simply to stay alive…

Bit sat tensed, his zoid crouched upon the catapult, boosters on standby, all weapons ready at a moment's notice, waiting for the right moment to strike- the catapult's launching charge building up around the feet of his zoid, ready to throw the zoid forwards with a system more commonly found in a Maglev or Magnetic Levitation railway…

Abruptly, the Stealth Dragon surfaced, trying to throw the Shadow Fox to one side- as Brad darted quickly to one side, trying to keep mobile. This was Bit's moment and, wrenching the controls of his zoid forward, he launched it through the air, Boosters flickering on before he hit the ground, the bright blue blades of the Liger sliding into position at either side of him, not outstretched in an attempt to fly (this had failed quite spectacularly the one time Bit had tried it) but parallel to the main body of the zoid. The five head-mounted blades that made up the Buster Slash swung forward, and then they energised, a corona of energy forming around the bladed Liger as it hit the ground running, its target: The Stealth Dragon.

Algernon, at the controls of the Stealth Dragon, noted everything that Bit Cloud did, the database in his cockpit confirming that this would indeed be the formidable seven-blade attack, as developed only two months before during the Royal Cup. In response, he activated the systems that put the word Stealth in the name of the Stealth Dragon, releasing billowing clouds of steam and moving just slightly beyond the reach of the seven-blade attack, only to be rocked from behind as Brad's Shadowfox rammed into it, the strike laser claws of the fox glowing like white hot irons as they sailed through the billowing steam towards the armoured serpent- and their effect was almost as deadly, cutting into a chink in the Stealth Dragon's armour, where two different plates didn't quite overlap, the energy-laden claws made their way as far as the Stealth Dragon's unique articulation system, critically damaging a key section in the system and immobilising the sinuous zoid from that point downwards…

Suddenly, the howl of a wolf sounded across the battlefield- Bit turned round to look behind him, as did Jamie and Brad, before realising that it wasn't from some wolf zoid that had intruded upon their battlefield, but from the pilot of the downed Salamander…

Suddenly, Jamie was jolted as gunfire from the stricken Stealth Dragon arched up towards his Raynos, aiming not for where the fast zoid was, but for where it was most likely to be- peppering his zoid with heavy machine gun-fire as it activated the jet thrusters mounted just below the neck of the zoid, rising- albeit somewhat unsteadily- into the air.

In that moment, Jamie cut loose, letting the aggression and skill of the wild eagle out of him unchecked, swooping down towards the oncoming dragon with all forward guns blazing, bobbing and weaving back and forth through the sky, avoiding every incoming shell that he could, finally bursting through the thrusters of the Stealth Dragon with his guns as it turned its head, biting down upon the left-hand wing of the Raynos, the serpentine fangs of the zoid sinking deep- tearing chunks of metal loose as Jamie and the Wild Eagle fought in tandem to break free of the serpent's bite, all their efforts- eventually- in vain as the heavy serpent (unsupported by its own thrusters) and the damage to the Raynos bore the two zoids inexorably down, smashing them against the thin layer of snow that covered the field, disabling both zoids…

Algernon- who incidentally hated his given name- suspected that there would be dozens of rookie Stealth Viper pilots trying to copy some of the moves from this battle, either trying to ram quadrupedal zoids such as Ligers, wolves and Tigers from underground, or throwing themselves into the sky, trying to bite into flying zoids and bear them to the ground. Most, he mused, would fail at these manoeuvres, their zoids not possessing the strength, or their pilots the skill and timing required to make these moves at all practical, but some would succeed- showing the world that these moves could be achieved, putting these gambits amongst the many tactics and stratagems that epitomised the elite pilots of zoid history, alongside more common moves, easier moves, such as the High Intensity Blade Attack and the Focussed Megalomax assault.

Bit Cloud continued moving, deactivating his seven-blade attack to save power, but keeping each blade in place until he had something better to do with them. As the energy field that surrounded his zoid dissipated, twin beams slammed into the back of his zoid, emanating from the attack boosters of the opposing blade liger. With a bound, the Liger zero itself sprang away, its body twisting to face this threat as it sailed away from the beams, landing in a crouch- fangs bared, claws sharp and blades positioned, ready to face this challenger. Both Ligers roared, each sensing the other as their greatest challenge for supremacy here. The attack boosters of Myriam's Blade Liger AE swung back at the touch of a button, their pulse beam cannons (which had damaged the Liger Zero Schneider) folding away in their compartments as the mighty blades of the Liger took position, fully outstretched to make it tougher for the Schneider to deliver a slashing attack to the flanks of this Liger successfully… Then, with a mighty roar, each Liger charged, closing on the other zoid with a ferocity not seen since the end of the Royal Cup. The Liger Zero charged in close, almost too close, before breaking off- springing diagonally sideways over the blade of the opposing Blade Liger, using controlled bursts from the boosters of the Schneider to turn sharply in mid-air, then digging its claws in upon landing to cut its backward momentum. The Blade Liger had also used its boosters to facilitate a sharp turn, and with a bound was quickly upon the Liger Zero once more.

Brad, on the other hand, was now stuck trying to defeat the Gunblaster, the other remaining zoid of the group. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be much of a problem, given the sheer speed and manoeuvrability of the fox, but however, the pilot here was maintaining the enhanced omni-directional shields of the zoid as he slowly turned, opening fire at any near alignment with the Light Particle Cannon and 70mm Pulse cannon that were fitted to the Gunblaster as standard. Brad was having to stay alert every second of this, carefully keeping his speed and direction matched to the turning rate of the Gunblaster as it rotated, trying to get an inkling of a targeting lock upon the Shadowfox with its array of fixed-position forward facing gunnery, intermittently changing its direction of rotation in a futile-seeming bid to outwit the pilot of the fox.

Both skirmishes continued unabated, the Ligers managing to land only the barest of hits upon one another whilst dodging each other's furious flurry of attacks, whilst the Fox continued to try and batter down the shields of the Gunblaster, which itself continued to try and get a good lock upon the Shadowfox… Everything said and done, this match was beginning to look like a stalemate, but all eyes were resolutely glued to the Liger Zero Schneider, expecting it at any moment to put experience into practice with some new strategy guaranteed to win the day.

The moment came, and the Liger Zero shifted, the blades of its main body pointed upwards as it tried to slide underneath the opposing Blade Liger as it jumped, only to meet with heavily reinforced belly armour that clanged against the twin blades, blunting them and twisting their shape as they merely knocked the Blade Liger AE aside, despite the energy pulsing through them, unable to achieve the job. In that moment of triumph, the Blade Liger AE activated its attack boosters, using them to control its fall and landed safely, upon all four legs- a booster powered rapid skid-turn bringing the Liger around to face the Schneider's flank. The boosters flipped forward again, the Pulse Beam cannons extended, and the Blade Liger opened fire, the cannons cutting through the blades, boosters and armour of the Schneider alike, cutting across the Liger Zero with studied accuracy, disabling everything they could of the zoid, leaving the seemingly broken Liger to slump in the melting slurry that had been snow only two hours before…

"The Liger Zero is unable to continue," announced the judge, formalising Bit's defeat.

With that said and done, the battle was over already, with Brad's elimination being nothing more than a formality as he tried to use every trick in the book to take out either the Blade Liger or the Gunblaster before being defeated himself- failing in this endeavour ultimately as the Gunblaster jumped into the air, being spun around by a controlled nudge from the Blade Liger AE to face the Shadowfox, battering the vulpine zoid with every gun that could get a clear shot at it.

"The winners of this battle," announced the judge, "are the psychotic spoons team!"

Steve Toros sighed, using the high-resolution scanners fitted to the command centre of the Hovercargo to examine the full extent of the damage his team's zoids had taken. From the look of things, it was bad news. Leena's Gunsniper had taken the least damage of all of the zoids, but had expended virtually every scrap of ammunition it had, whilst the other zoids had taken damage so extensive that they could take weeks to repair unless they paid for professionals to do it. Reluctantly, he walked down to the hangar, clambering into the control room for the heavy crane needed to bring the zoids in…

It was then that a phone-call came in from the opposing team's Whale King.

Reluctantly, Doctor Toros stopped what he was doing to answer the call on the comm-screen in the crane's control room, "So, you're calling to gloat are you," he accused the opposing team's tactical officer, Jacob.

"No, no, no," he replied quickly, not skipping a beat, "that's not it at all. What we wanted to do was to congratulate you on your first battle in Class S. I mean," he continued, "most teams that graduate to class S don't manage to take out more than one opposing zoid in their first battle… We know this from experience. The guys also wanted me to offer you a couple of things, first, that we'll pay for the repairs to your zoids as well as our own this time around, and second that you're invited to an after-match party over in our Whale King this evening…"

At the sound of the two offers made, Doctor Toros was startled, but quickly accepted them, knowing that if he didn't the team could end up on the verge of bankruptcy simply paying for the repair of their own zoids, especially when the money was debited from his account for the fifteen new model zoids he'd spent out on.

Now it was time to get on with the other important post-match task, checking that all of the pilots were all right. Leena, having taken the least damage to her zoid in battle, was fine, although she was furious with Bit for all the damage that had been inflicted upon her Gunsniper by way of the Liger Zero Panzer, and would tell him that personally once she found the right time. Jamie was next, suffering with no more than a mild concussion, which meant that he had gotten off lightly compared with some airborne zoid specialists. Bit was just feeling a little tense, his ego bruised but otherwise fine… His zoid had been taken out, not him. Brad, on the other hand, was a different matter, his zoid having been trashed with heavy artillery- causing cockpit fires, which he had barely scrambled out of with large second-degree burns across his entire body. The ZBC sanctioned camera crews had pitched in here, and were rushing him to the nearest hospital facility on their way back to civilisation.

The Shadow Fox, the Liger Zero and the Raynos were the zoid most badly damaged, meaning that unless things changed drastically, Leena's Gunsniper would feature prominently in their next match (with the Liger Zero being mostly okay for it as long as the Jager or standard Zero armour was used).

However, with the pilots (for the most part) in reasonable shape, and the zoids retrieved for repairs, it was now time to gather the people he had and tell them about this evening's proposed shindig with the opposing team.

"Leena," he began, not liking to do this to his daughter but wanting to head off the trouble now so that they could put in a respectable showing that evening, "I know you want to have a word with Bit, but could you save it for later, this is important. Given as we're new to class S, we made a reasonable impression today- in fact we did better for ourselves than most new Class S teams, though it doesn't feel that way to any of you, I'm sure. Because of this, our opponents today have offered to cover our repair bills for today's match, and have also invited us to join them for an after-battle party aboard their Whale King this evening."

"You see," Leena interjected, staring pointedly at Bit, "some zoid pilots are gentlemen, who will go out of their way to pay for repairs to zoids other than their own. Even repairs to damage caused by idiots who can't keep control of their weapons."

"I can't keep control of my weapons," Bit replied, astounded, "I'm not the pilot who ends up shooting at her own team-mates nine times out of ten if they end up even vaguely downrange!"

Both had forgotten about Jamie's concussion, and things escalated into a full-blown shouting match in moments. Jamie and Doctor Toros, however, went off and left them to it, knowing that trying to stop the pair of them would be utterly futile…

"Whose fault is it that you keep dragging your zoid across the front of my gun sights?" Leena demanded- an echo in the distance as Jamie went to dig out his rarely seen formal wear from beneath his bunk, but even that fading echo was enough to send his head ringing…

Finally, the last straw came, in the form of a demand from Leena, "And who stole my after-battle cookie?"

This was followed by a series of metallic thumping noises and agonised screams from Bit. Jamie winced; tomorrow he was going to have to get up even earlier than usual, just to beat all of the dents out of the frying pan.

Meanwhile, Kit Tsunami sat in a seedy back-alley bar in downtown Dragonhead city, admiring the paintwork- or rather the lack of it- on the walls. She stood about five foot seven tall, and had fire-red hair to shoulder length. Her skin was- to use the worn out cliché- white as lilies, apart from the outbreak of freckles that covered her face- as is so common with redheads. She wore tight fitting blue jeans and a black top, cut in such a way as to preserve her modesty- she was hoping to get a job as a zoid pilot and didn't want to give anybody the wrong impression- and a wristwatch with a leather strap. Her hair was loose, but had been brushed with a central parting to frame her face. Her eyes were a shade that some would call blue and others would consider grey and her ears were small, easily covered by her hair.

A man approached her, she prepared to fend him off if necessary- he looked as if he'd had plenty to drink already, and was still grasping a full glass- but was also ready to hear him out, given as he could be the contact who had asked her to meet him here.

"I hear you're looking for a job," he muttered to her, trying not to attract attention, "a job piloting a zoid no less."

"That's right," she replied, relieved that he was coming over to talk about that and not something else.

"We might," he continued, a crooked smile coming to his thin lips as he said it, "have something for you then. When are you available to start?"

Kit hadn't expected the meeting to go this fast, or for her prospective employer to accept her without references. She glanced at the holdall beneath her bar stool, thinking of the references she had painstakingly forged in an attempt to get this job, tucked carefully amongst her changes of clothing. "Umm… As soon as you've finished that drink," she replied, almost stuttering…

"Great," her new employer replied, gulping his drink, "we have company accommodation which would, of course, be provided as part of your contract with us, and we can offer you piloting duties in whichever zoid you prove most adept with."

"That would be perfect," she replied, for this was more than she had hoped for, the chance to prove herself as a zoid pilot- no questions asked- and freedom from such nuisances as monthly or weekly rent. She had been desperate to get this job, for she had been running late with what rent she already owed. Indeed, her landlady had demanded to see money tonight, otherwise she would have been thrown out upon the streets, forced to fend for herself, to fight for such spaces as a narrow stretch of overhanging roof, just to keep off some of the rain and wind. As it was, her landlady would most likely be advertising her upstairs room to prospective lodgers before the sun set tomorrow, and would be left- once more- trying to decide between prospective tenants.

Leon Toros yawned, trying desperately to keep his eyes open as he piloted the Gustav onwards towards the site- only fifty miles away now- where they would battle with the Darklords team at ten tomorrow morning. It was already half past ten at night now, but he continued on, determined to be on site before he turned in- just so he could spend the morning getting ready for the zoid battle. He glanced down at the speedometer in the cockpit of the Gustav, they were travelling at about sixty miles an hour (or 96 kilometres an hour), just fast enough that it wouldn't take all night getting there, and yet also slow enough that he wouldn't be continually jolting Naomi- who was sleeping on the back seats of the Gustav's cabin- awake. He went back to squinting at the ground in front of him, only to slam the brakes on in a mad panic, barely managing not to run over a human body, lying intact directly in his path, face-down in the sand…

"Wha… What is it," asked Naomi groggily, suddenly jolted awake by the sudden stop, "are we there yet?"

"No, this is perhaps more urgent," Leon replied, almost snapping at Naomi in his anxiety, " I almost ran somebody over, he's out there right now, unconscious."

Grudging every second of lost sleep, Naomi stretched and got out of the Gustav to help Leon carry the unconscious man- though he seemed to be little more than a teenager- inside. She had been sleeping in the clothes she was already wearing, having nowhere other than the cockpit of her Gunsniper for privacy if she wanted to change clothes.

Muttering, she took the helm from Leon as he crouched beside their unconscious guest, trying to bring him around.

Their guest was, unbeknown to them, none other than Vega Obscura, the pilot who had almost single-handedly brought the zoid battle commission to its knees within the space of a single day. However, neither Leon nor Naomi had ever faced him in battle, let alone met him outside of battle- and thus, neither had any idea as to his identity.

Finally, he began to stir, his head swimming as his eyes opened, the bright interior lights of the Gustav's cockpit streaming into his eyes as he tried to sit, eventually slumping back against the seats in sheer exhaustion.

"Who-" he began, confused, "who am I? Where am I?"

Leon offered him a drink of water, silently frustrated that the problems of the young man they had rescued were greater than he had bargained for.

Author's Note: Okay folks, that's that for another chapter… Hope you're enjoying things so far. Please remember to read and review as appropriate, because any feedback is more useful to me than you could imagine, whether positive or negative I'll take it- so long as the negatives are constructive criticism not "this sucks, give up now" to paraphrase one I never wrote.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: A new life for a new pilot 

The battle was going badly for the Flügel team, their opponents- the Darklords team- had upgraded their already powerful zoids since their last battle and were inflicting almost impossible amounts of damage to Leon's red Blade Liger and Naomi's red Gunsniper.

The zoids arrayed against them were as follows: A Dark Horn- equipped with the new Theta-series armaments, which turned the already tank-like zoid into a slower variation on the Dibison, armed with weapons that covered every flank the Black zoid had; an Iron Kong, modified into an upgrade of the Mk2 design which neither pilot had even heard of before- the Dark Ravager, whose gunnery and missiles were radically different to allow for a more sustained onslaught; thirdly and finally, the Dark Blazer- a faster, more-heavily armoured version of the Ice Blazer, sporting specialist weapons that could, for short periods of time, rip through energy shields and disrupt all combat systems, dealing minimal permanent damage to the actual zoid.

It was all that Leon could do to evade the artillery being sent in his general direction, let alone strike back, for his opponents were being very careful against him, mounting a cautious assault that saw each of their zoids protected apart from occasional seconds where they had to change formation to counter an unpredicted tactic. The Iron Kong was already severely damaged, having taken a number of direct hits from Naomi's red Gunsniper before her zoid had been disabled- rather forcefully- by a focussed Megalomax attack from the modified Dark Horn…

Leon was growing desperate now, and his stress levels were rising rapidly, urging him to risk everything on some dangerous- but incredibly Liger-like- assault…

**To hell with this**, he thought, letting out a roar of frustration that sounded more like Bit than it did like himself.

**When**, he wondered, confused at the line of attack that his own thoughts were taking, **did I stop thinking like myself and start thinking like Bit?**

He flicked a single switch, the Liger's blades dropping to its sides, pointing forwards as he dodged another onslaught from the six leg-mounted Pulse cannons of the Dark Blazer. His shield flickered on, and he rammed his control yokes forward, turning to face the damaged Iron Kong as the boosters of the Blade Liger kicked in, ramming his zoid towards the Primate zoid before him.

The Iron Kong reared up, too late to jet-jump using the manoeuvre thrusters, but in perfect time to slam a fist down upon the shield of the incoming Liger, extending and energising the short blade mounted in the forearm just above the wrist, hoping to punch through the shields and attack the neck of the zoid, its other arm slamming down and digging into the sandy wastes that made up this battlefield, trying to hold its ground against the 305 kilometre an hour onslaught that hit it square in the chest, impeded momentarily by the arm of the Iron Kong, but punching past this in seconds as the armour began to heat up, the outer layers melting slightly with the application of energy from the Liger's shields. Then, the 12-shot rockets- mounted to the chest of this Iron Kong in place of the more normal quadruplet of 20mm repeater cannons- were launched, battering the shield of the red Liger, but also- in the enclosed environment in which they detonated- dealing massive damage to the arms and main body of the Iron Kong… Finally, as a final note of defiance, the Iron Kong let loose its payload of ten Hellfire Missiles, mounted to the back of the simian zoid in place of the paired ballistic missiles and heavy missiles of the Iron Kong, the last launching just a fraction of a second before the Iron Kong was borne to the ground by the enraged Liger and pilot, disabled.

Much to his disgust, however, Leon's moment of triumph didn't last, and the ten Hellfire missiles slammed into his zoid in quick succession, overloading the already overtaxed shields just as the 'needler' 37mm Pulse Cannons of the Dark Blazer opened up again, their rapidly firing darts of energy each finding their mark and slamming into the Blade Liger from behind, overloading the damage suppression systems of the zoid and disabling the motors that powered the back legs of the Leonine zoid, turning it into little more than a sitting target as the remaining two opposing zoids closed in for the kill, each taking up positions where the immobilised Liger's forward-facing armaments could not hope to target them and opening fire- the Dark Horn with the trio of impact cannons that had been fitted to the belly of the zoid, the Dark Blazer with the twin 96mm 'Faust' wave-disruption cannons that would stall the Liger's internal systems, removing any vague chance of Leon's fighting back.

"The winners," announced the tinny voice of the judge mechanoids, "are the Darklords team!"

Leon slumped in defeat, knowing that- at this rate- they would never have the money to keep up with repairs upon their own zoids, let alone to pay the wages of a third pilot and the payments for the zoid of said additional pilot. What was more, he had to go back to looking after that kid they had rescued in the desert the previous night, whose inability to remember even his own name was already beginning to drive Leon and Naomi alike to tears, simply through the frustration of trying to talk to him- getting the occasional hazy memory out of him (as well as some hallucinations about being a saurian zoid which neither Leon nor Naomi gave much credence to), but never any indication of what his name might be.

Elsewhere, the Lightning team had just begun their own battle, facing off against the Champ team in a battle that they expected to be a walkover. The Champ team were facing them with the trio of Iron Kong PK units that they reserved for some of their toughest battles.

"Can the chatter," came Kelly Tasker's voice over the comms- she was being oddly assertive recently. Daunted, Jack and Chris complied immediately, giving their opponents an eerie communications blackout as they opened up their drives, bringing their Lightning Saix trio up to full speed with their practised slipstream formation.

"Missiles at three o'clock," Jack announced calmly.

"Copy that," came the reply from the other two and the three pilots scattered, the missiles hitting the ground where they would have been and rattling the three cheetah zoids ever so slightly with the shockwave from the impact.

Moments later, and with chilling precision, they were back in formation, charging towards the narrow gap- barely wide enough to fit two of their zoids through side-by-side- between Harry's Iron Kong and that of Sebastian. Sure enough, Harry turned, trying to fire upon them as they went past, just two seconds too late. His gunfire blazed to life, tracking behind the three Saixes and straight into the left arm of Sebastian's Iron Kong, almost rendering the arm useless.

Sebastian, however, had been trying to trip the Lightning team as they passed through, sticking the limb of his zoid in their path. But this obvious move had been anticipated, and countered almost before he made it, as each Saix sprang into the air, soaring over his badly positioned limb to achieve freedom on the other side of the enemy group.

They doubled back before Harry's guns were reset to attack their tail-end, splitting up to tackle separate Iron Kongs just as the gatlings of the Iron Kong PK's opened up behind them. They streaked back towards the battle, each with the seeming purpose of a bullet- and twice the speed- as they picked their targets and engaged.

Kelly was taking the centre of the formation, going head to head with Harry Champ himself, the Lightning Beam cannons on the back of her zoid firing continually until she broke right, forcing him to waste still more ammunition for the slightest chance of hitting her zoid as it darted left and right, using more conventional evasive moves to avoid the incoming barrage since she was devoid of her colleagues on this run.

Chris took the already damaged zoid that was Sebastian's Iron Kong, a surgical strike defeating the semi-crippled zoid as her own Lightning beam cannons cut through the damaged arm of the zoid, sending it crashing to the ground and, as she passed over with a bound, tearing the missile launcher from the stricken zoid with the teeth of her zoid.

It was nothing more than circumstance that sent Jack Cisco to take down Benjamin's Iron Kong, but once he was on course, there was nothing that could be done to stop him as he sprang at the mechanised gorilla's head at full speed, knocking the zoid backwards with the combination of phenomenal forces and the perfect place to apply them. Jack landed cleanly on the other side of the Iron Kong, cutting his boosters and skidding through a half-circle to shed momentum quickly, his guns lashing out to finish what he had started. He was pretty certain that he had dented one paw of his Lightning Saix, but this was damage that he could put right with an hour's hard work at the most (as opposed to damage that would prevent his zoid from running right for weeks).

The three metal cheetahs converged upon Harry's damaged zoid, firing as they came- each protecting the other two from being shot at by laying down a continuous barrage that was far beyond Harry's ability to outmanoeuvre- until finally the Iron Kong crashed into the ground, head first, disabled.

Bit blinked awake, his eyes still blurry as he fought with a monstrous headache. He was aboard the Whale King of the psychotic spoons team, and it was one in the afternoon- give or take a few minutes.

Beside him, Leena and Jamie had also been laid out on simple bunks in the crew quarters of the massive transporter zoid. They were all fully clothed, which Bit assumed was just as well under the circumstances.

The events of the previous night were somewhat- hazy, yes that was the word- in his mind, memories of sitting and chatting over a drink becoming ethereal now that he tried to remember them. He stretched and sat up, his head pounding and throbbing as he did so, fighting off a feeling of dizziness that threatened to overwhelm him. Finally, he stood, his legs continually trying to give way beneath him- only force of will keeping him upright as he staggered out into the corridor of the vast transporter.

He made his way, staggering to one of the viewports in the outside wall of the Whale King and, briefly peering through it, confirmed his suspicions… They were in flight.

"Oh, you're finally awake," came Myriam's voice from behind him, she saw his puzzled face as he turned groggily to face her, "Don't worry," she continued, trying to reassure him, "we agreed last night that we'd take you guys back as far as Romeo city. It's not far out of our way to get you there… Besides, we wanted a better look at your Liger and the Shadow Fox." She tossed off that last as if it were an inconsequential aside, and given the apparent wealth and reputation of the Psychotic Spoons team, Bit was willing to take her word that the two unique zoids weren't being stolen from them by means of some dastardly clever ruse.

"I'll tell you what, though," Myriam continued, "it took a lot of planning to fit that Hovercargo of yours into the Whale King… We had to hover over the thing with our belly hatch open, then winch it inside- trust me, that transporter of yours is more trouble than it's worth."

"The Doc likes it though," Bit replied, feeling strange trying to defend the team's transport zoid…

It was then that Jamie and Leena stumbled out of the bunkroom they had all been sharing, both looking bleary-eyed and remembering very little from the night before. Bit quickly explained what the arrangements were, flinching backwards as Leena, groggier and more irritable than usual, glared at him out of instinct- before conceding mentally that her current state probably wasn't his fault.

To pass the time, Myriam took them to the hangar of the Whale King, showing them all of the zoids that the Psychotic Spoons team possessed. Alongside the Gunblaster, the Blade Liger AE, the Stealth Dragon and the Salamander, there were other zoids, many of them rare models that few pilots saw in their lifetimes, let alone owned or piloted. These included: the Lidier, an ancient forerunner to modern Liger designs, still powerful given its combination of weapons and speed; the Snipe Master, seemingly a stripped down Gunsniper, but with specialist stealth and targeting equipment that made it a formidable opponent; the Godkaiser, a bizarre saurian war machine, most of whose main weapons faced backwards; the Juggernaut-model Command Wolf, the addition of four mortar cannons to the standard command wolf proving very deadly; the Zeek Dober, a fast canine zoid with blades, cannons and heavy armour; the Barigator, a low-slung crocodilian zoid, and possibly the weakest zoid (by most people's standards) that they possessed; a Saicurtis, the insectile form proving unusual and unexpected in many zoid battles; a silver-painted Spinosapper, whose deadly chainsaws were capable of ripping through just about anything; a Warshark, whose presence improved the chances of the psychotic spoons team in aquatic battles; a Sinker- present for much the same reasons as the warshark, and a stormsworder- which increased their airborne presence when they needed to.

Leon was getting tired of going over the same argument again, but Naomi wouldn't back down on the fact that they couldn't hope to afford a third member…

"Look," Leon said, "I'm pretty sure they owe me a big enough favour over at Morgan, Finchley and Slye to lend me a functional zoid for our next battle, and we can offer to pay the third guy a percentage of whatever winnings we get."

Naomi flinched at the thought of borrowing a zoid from Morgan, Finchley and Slye for their next battle, distrusting the used zoid dealers with anything that they could possibly strip-down to the barest workings, but Leon was beginning to make a lot of sense. She knew in her heart that he was right- she had known this for months in fact- but that wasn't the issue. Much as it pained her to admit it to herself, she couldn't bear to lose an argument, even one such as this, which would be important for her future career. But, as she recognised her unwillingness to concede defeat for what it was, she overcame it, grudgingly replying, "We'll see what you can get from those con merchants before planning any further ahead."

She then took over behind the controls of the Gustav, allowing him access to the phone in the front passenger seat when a voice came from the back, "I'll pilot for you."

It was their passenger from last night, the amnesiac teen whose unconscious form they had rescued from the desert last night.

"That's a generous offer, son," Leon interjected gracefully- seeing the youth as practically a son- before Naomi could respond, "but we would need to test you out on a zoid first. Also, it doesn't help that we don't know your name, because we'd need to register you as a pilot- by name- with the zoid battle commission."

"Call me- Ryan," the youth replied, "Ryan Blanche, I think I always liked the name Ryan."

"Fair enough," Leon replied. Naomi caught his eye for just a split-second. The look on her face spelled out, in words that nobody could fail to understand, that the pair of them would need to talk later.

Leon picked up the phone, digging in his pocket for the scrap of paper he had with the number for Morgan, Finchley and Slye's office. He tapped in the number quickly, but with precision, getting a response after only two rings. The communications screen flickered on, revealing a pale skinned man in a cheap white shirt and an even cheaper black suit and tie. His hair was black, but thinning out a little at the top.

"Good Afternoon," he began, "Morgan, Finchley and Slye, Slye speaking, how can I help? Oh, it's you…" Slye's face fell, knowing this was going to be 'difficult' at best.

"Yes," Leon continued, "it's me. I seem to recall you gentlemen owing me a favour- over the matter of some dodgy shield Liger parts about seven months ago. Armed police as I recall, raided these parts from me and I barely got away without a charge for possessing stolen goods. Moreover, I managed, despite my anger, not to breathe the names Morgan Finchley or even Slye whilst in the presence of said policemen. In short, Slye, I need a functional, safe," he raised his voice now, "and above all, fully legal zoid. More to the point, I have here the crime reference number for the event I mentioned and a phone number for the investigator who was handling that case, so you will either provide me with a zoid that fits my requirements or I shall get that case re-opened."

"Yes, yes, certainly," Slye muttered, sweating profusely, "never let it be said that Gerald Slye has no sense of fair-play." The connection went black and switched off.

Naomi chuckled to herself, knowing that she would probably have gone in person, and threatened them in different ways.

Kit Tsunami had been running simulators for five hours now. She had reported for aptitude testing at ten o'clock on her first morning at the Backdraft headquarters facility, and had- apart from the occasional drink of water- been spending every moment of that time in the combat simulators on the base, training with everything from the Zabat and the Stealth Viper up to powerful machines such as the Shield Liger, the Stormsworder and the Gojulas…

She stepped out of the latest simulator, that of a Command Wolf Juggernaut, and placed her feet squarely upon solid ground, preparing to go over to the head instructor once more to try and find something that suited her just a little better.

"Is this the hotshot pilot who's been re-writing the manual for each zoid she's done a simulator run in?" came the incredulous question.

"She sure is," came the reply of the head instructor, seemingly proud of her, "she took a bit of time to get the hang of piloting the first few simulator sessions she ran, but then she just suddenly picked up the knack in the middle of a simulator run using the Zaber Fang simulator, and she's excelling at every zoid she does a simulator run for. Her forte seems to be using zoids with high speed and high mobility, but she'd also do well behind the controls of some heavy-artillery zoid."

Suddenly, the instructor called her over and, without skipping a beat she was soon standing to attention in front of his desk.

"Cadet Tsunami," the instructor, a portly man named Marco Jacobson, addressed her, "I'd like you to meet Doctor Layon, just come back to active duty in the organisation after a period of extended injury. He wants to put you through a few tests of his own to gauge your potential as a pilot."

The Doctor, newly introduced to her, slurped some instant noodles from the cup he was holding, then spoke to his new charge in person. "Pleased to meet you cadet Tsunami, I just hope that you have half the piloting potential that the instructors seem to think you have, because if so, you might end up piloting one of the greatest zoids that the backdraft organisation can offer any pilot. If you'd care to follow me."

She did, and followed him from the main simulator facility to one of the less-used parts of the pilot training section. There, she was strapped into a chair attached to a rotating arm- a G-force simulator the doctor called it- and various electrodes were attached to her body to monitor her vital signs.

Then, from an operations gallery above the assembly, the doctor sat down- still slurping his instant noodles- and ordered that the test commenced. Slowly, the machine began to rotate, the chair on the end of the arm picking up speed under the watchful eye of the operator.

"Lifesigns fully stable at 5G doctor," the operator announced, slowly increasing the rotation speed even further. This looked promising, given that most Backdraft trainees were heavy-set brutes with a tendency to pass out under even 3G of force.

Dispassionately, Doctor Layon looked on, his hopes hidden beneath a mask of professionalism as the G-force simulator rotated steadily faster and faster. Finally, she passed out under the strain, a full 0.01G after Brad Hunter had faked his own fainting under similar circumstances.

**This**, he mused to himself, **might be the best person for the job he had in mind, the resurrection of the Shadow Fox. However**, he told himself, **there was only one way to be certain of this- Testing her use of the zoid itself.**

But, of course, the next stage would have to wait until cadet Tsunami was conscious again. Like it or not, doctor Layon would have to wait before giving his pet project the chance to rise again, even in the simulators…

"This," Naomi said critically, "is the fully-functional zoid that the infamous firm of Morden, Finchley and Slye has found for us?"

She stared, her eyes wide, at a battered Hound Soldier that had seen far better days. It had been painted red- the same shade of red as Leon's Blade Liger and her own Gunsniper- but this seemed, to her trained eye, to be merely a way to try and disguise the spots of rust and corrosion that covered the body of the zoid intermittently. However, as well as not doing a good job of covering over the rust and corrosion, it did an even worse job of hiding the occasional missing plate of body armour, and the fact that the middle barrel of the Hound Soldier's vertically-mounted triple impact cannon had been smashed inwards was distressing to say the least.

"Well," whined Morden, having drawn the short straw and found himself handling this tricky assignment, "your partner did say he wanted a machine that wouldn't lead to certain legal complications, and the better zoids on our lot tend to have shadier pasts than this Hound Soldier. We did," he went on, his voice growing more confident as he regained his salesroom professionalism, "however, fit a couple of extra parts to the zoid- nothing that will involve legal entanglements I assure you- just a pair of Strike Laser Claws (I'm sure a pilot of you're stature knows that they're all the rage amongst pilots in cat, wolf and dog zoids these days), and a couple of third-hand vectored assault boosters, you know, the ones developed for the abortive Command Wolf Desert Fury modification…"

Now that Naomi had heard the sales pitch, she could just about spot the small unobtrusive boosters, and she finally realised what was different about the front paws of the Hound Soldier. Leon and Ryan had been hanging back until now, following to the letter the agreement that had been made with Naomi following the phone conversation earlier, but now Ryan stepped forward.

"He seems anxious," Ryan blurted out suddenly, talking about the Hound Soldier in front of him, "anxious to prove himself, to be once more the paramount warrior he once was."

"Hey," Morden asked, disconcerted, "how d'you know so much about this 'ere Hound Soldier?"

"It just seems obvious," Ryan replied, his voice getting quieter as he thought about his words, thinking about how silly they sounded… He blushed furiously and stood, silent, wishing he hadn't said a word.

"Well," Leon announced, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over the group, "we'll test it. What have we got to lose?"

Author's Note:

Sorry y'all had to wait so long for this latest chapter, but I got a little preoccupied again… Anyhow, as per usual, remember to read, review and recommend, and I'll see y'all on the flipside.


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